Monday, May 12, 2008

More Berkley Craziness

CJ at A Soldier's Perspective has a great post on the continued craziness of the folks at Berkley. In the post he debunks three myths written in an editorial by Mark McDonald in the Berkley Daily Planet. The third myth is the most disturbing to me. Mr. McDonald writes:

Incidents of rape of female recruits by recruiters have increased significantly and the Pentagon has acknowledged the problem by issuing an order prohibiting any recruiter from being alone with a female recruit at any time. Alleged perpetrators have gone uninvestigated and women who report the assaults continue to be penalized for doing so.

This is absolute baloney (or some other words starting with a B and and S). I have spent my career in military law. I know there have always been some unscrupulous recruiters who have taken advantage of female recruits. It is an unfortunate fact that there will always be people who do not believe the rules apply to them, or who believe they can get away with something. For this reason, there has always been a business practice, in the form of an order that recruiters should not meet alone with recruits of the opposite sex. But the vast majority of recruiters are honorable men and women who are doing their best at a very difficult job; often without the support structure that other military families enjoy. It's a hard, tough duty. That said, when a recruiter steps over the line, I have not known any service that hesitates, one iota, to investigate or prosecute a recruiter who has acted improperly with a recruit. In my experience, Mr. McDonald's blanket statement that "alleged perpetrators have gone uninvestigated and women who report the assaults continue to be penalized for doing so" is simply not true.